Daily Archives: February 22, 2021

Brands have things to learn from both Trump and Biden’s approach to populism – CampaignLive

Posted: February 22, 2021 at 2:37 pm

Did you see the love hearts that the Bidens set out on the Whitehouse lawn for Valentines day, filled with messages to the American nation like Unity, Hope and Love? You donthave to be a master in semiotics to spot that these were designed to put some distance between the current and previous First Families.

Many in adland are also pretty happy to see the back of Trumps famously populist presidency. And theres a group with a particular reason to be cheerful those of us who believe in creative (not political) populism: that the most effective creativity speaks to the many rather than the few.

Thankfully for this school of creative thought, Biden is now being hailed as a populist, too (a progressive populist). And as the stigma around the P-word diminishes we can be loudly and proudly creatively populist without sounding like we want to Make America Great Again. Phew.

So what lessons can anyone looking to speak to mass audiences learn from these two strands of populism from Trump and Biden?

Their policy differences are less relevant to the daily life of brands. More revealing are their strategies for creating emotional engagement with their audiences.

Trump may have avoided impeachment this month, but it was clear from his rhetoric that were going to see a continuation of his signature strategy: the use of friction and division as the source of emotional engagement with his supporters.

Biden, meanwhile, is clearly adopting a different approach. From Amanda Gormans striking calls for unity in her inauguration poem The Hill We Climb, to the First Ladys folksy love letters on the lawn, he is aiming to move people through an appeal for togetherness.

But are these two opposing approaches, of friction and unity, both fair game for brands?

The 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer shows that business leaders, for the first time, enjoy greater levels of public trust than politicians do. And as we know from another American icon, Spider-Man, with great power, comes great responsibility. So, in a world struggling with polarisation, do businesses need to be firmly on the side of unity?

Some of the challenges of championing unity can be seen in Jeeps Super Bowl ad, The middle, starring blue-collar hero Bruce Springsteen. In its call for togetherness, the ad managed to inadvertently pull off the feat of being one of the most divisive of the night.

But can brands justify going the other way and actively playing to division and friction?

Abrasive creative is nothing new. From the ShakenVac song to the Go Compare singer, advertisers have long used friction to drive salience. But this approach, while unleashing unwelcome earworms and reducing brand likeability, is unlikely to endanger the fabric of society.

Others recognise their products themselves are divisive, from the sublime (step up Marmite) to the ridiculous (Andrexs Scrunch vs Fold, anyone?). But, if treated with a deft lightness of touch, this can be a playful way to engage both lovers and haters.

Some look to take on the category establishment. Theres an echo of Trumps swamp-draining bravado in BrewDogs self-styled punkish campaigns. But the worst one can say is that such strategies are at some point likely to prove growth-limiting. Its easier to play the scrappy outsider when you have sales of $300m per year than it is when you enjoy Carlsbergs $10bn.

Others directly enter the political fray. But no matter how satisfying it might be to tell a president to f**k off as Rebel Kitchen did, this is clearly a case of stooping to someone elses level, rather than following Michelle Obamas famous mantra When they go low, we go high.

Then we come to those who take a social stand, notably Nike in its Colin Kapaernick campaign. It bravely supported the right of black NFL players to take a knee in the face of Trumps condemnation of the practice. It was unapologetically provocative and political was it also irresponsibly divisive?

In a word, no. Theres an important distinction to make here. Campaigns like Nikes are not deliberately sowing differences. They dont suggest, as Trump so often does, that if you are different you are an inferior, second-class citizen. They are actually defending the right to be different. They dont demonise difference, they celebrate it.

And there are those that put this celebration of difference not just at the heart of a campaign, but at the heart of their brand. From Skodas celebration of those that are Driven by something different, to Apples iconic Think different and its current challenger Androids platform of Together, not the same.

This shows how brands can best treat the potentially toxic area of difference today. Not by glossing over it, like Bruce and Jeep. Not by resorting to name calling, like Rebel Kitchen. But by accepting and celebrating our differences whether playfully or powerfully.

We are all different. Its the one thing we all share. Difference unites us. And perhaps thats what the Bidens should have written in a love heart on the White House lawn this weekend.

Josh Bullmore is chief strategy officer at Leo Burnett

Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images

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Brands have things to learn from both Trump and Biden's approach to populism - CampaignLive

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Pope Francis visits Holocaust survivor’s home in Rome to thank her – KHOU.com

Posted: at 2:37 pm

During the visit, Francis told Edith Bruck: 'I came to thank you for your witness and to pay homage to the people martyred by the craziness of Nazi populism.'

ROME, Italy Pope Francis on Saturday visited with a Holocaust survivor in her Rome apartment to pay tribute to all those who suffered from what he called the craziness of Nazi populism.

Francis surprised Romans strolling Saturday afternoon on a Rome street not far from the Spanish Steps when a Vatican sedan dropped him off outside the apartment building that is home to Edith Bruck, a Hungarian-born writer and poet.

Bruck, who is 88, survived life in Nazi-run death camps during World War II and later settled in Italy.

The Vatican said that during the hour-long visit, Francis told her: I came to thank you for your witness and to pay homage to the people martyred by the craziness of Nazi populism."

And with sincerity I repeat the words I pronounced from my heart at Yad Vashem, and that I repeat in front of every person who, like you, suffered so much because of this: Forgive, Lord, in the name of humanity,'" the pontiff told Bruck, according to the Vatican's account of the private meeting.

Francis was referring to his 2014 visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Israel where he prayed and also kissed the hands of several survivors in a gesture of humility.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the conversation between Francis and Bruck evoked the fears and the hopes for the times that we are living through, stressing the value of memory and the role of the elderly in cultivating it and transmitting it to the youngest."

Italian RAI state TV said the pope had wanted to meet with Bruck after reading an interview with her recently in the Vatican newspaper.

A day earlier, Italy's interior minister condemned attacks on social media leveled against another Holocaust survivor, Italian senator-for-life Liliana Segre. Prosecutors are investigating the invective and racist comments which followed the 90-year-old Segre's urging other older adults in Italy to follow her example and receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

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Pope Francis visits Holocaust survivor's home in Rome to thank her - KHOU.com

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Limbaugh: The indispensable man in the forging of Trumpism – National Catholic Reporter

Posted: at 2:37 pm

Last Wednesday night, all three primetime Fox News shows began their shows with tributes to Rush Limbaugh, who had died earlier in the day. And well they should. Limbaugh, more than anyone, coarsened American political discourse, paved the way for the rise of conservative populism, and fed the rawness of the culture wars, which are the nightly fare offered by Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham. EWTN host Raymond Arroyo made an appearance on Ingraham's show to praise the fallen icon.

Jonathan Chait, writing at New York magazine, captured the repugnant essence of Limbaugh's appeal:

Limbaugh oozed bile. He did not merely characterize his targets as misguided, or stupid, or even selfish. He rendered them for his audience as dehumanized targets of rage. He had special rage for feminist women, who were castrating harpies, and Black people, who were lazy, intellectually unqualified, and inherently criminal. The message he pounded home day after day was that minorities and women were seizing status and resources from white people and men, and that politics was a zero-sum struggle and the victory would go to whichever side fought more viciously.

The content and the style vied with each other for vulgarity, none of it bounded by a concern for truth and almost always with a view toward stoking the basest of human emotions.

When Ingraham speculated, as she did on the afternoon of Jan. 6, that the mob attacking the Capitol had turned violent because it had been infiltrated by Antifa, she was walking down a path that Limbaugh had marked. When Arroyo traffics in anti-immigrant rhetoric, as he did last Thursday night, he is singing from the Limbaugh hymnal. When the entire EWTN and Fox networks explain away former President Donald Trump's serial misogyny, their script was perfected by Limbaugh.

One of the grimmest ironies of these conservative populists is that they advocate the very economic policies that sustain the economic insecurities without which their paranoid politics would collapse. I always wonder if they know they are duping their followers.

There is no denying that Limbaugh had a certain genius, but originality was not a part of that genius. He publicized conspiracy theories about the Clintons the way Oliver Stone publicized conspiracy theories about the assassination of JFK. He demeaned Blacks the way Fr. Charles Coughlin demeaned Jews. He advocated for states' rights the way George Wallace and John Calhoun had advocated for states' rights. Limbaugh liked to bemoan others as thugs, but he and his pedigree damn near cornered the market on thuggery.

No one need have cared about Limbaugh's influence if that influence had been confined to the media. But Limbaugh's style and ideas were consequential, as he shifted the Republican Party away from traditional conservatism toward movement conservatism. Chait's observation about politics becoming a zero-sum game is spot-on: Limbaugh brought back a paranoid and Manichaean element that has manifested itself in American politics through the years.

In previous times, however, it had faltered: Joseph McCarthy wreaked great harm on our society and our polity, but his reign of terror was short and his misdeeds were balanced by traditional Republicans who still believed that politics was the art of the possible.

Why was Limbaugh successful where Coughlin and McCarthy had failed? In part, because his rise in shock jock radio coincided largely with the rise of the religious right in politics. In this great free country of ours, people can believe and worship as they wish. But bringing millions of voters who think dinosaurs walked the earth a few thousand years ago (until they failed to get a ticket on Noah's Ark and were wiped out by the great flood) into the political mainstream introduced a capacity for credulity without which it is hard to imagine Trump getting away with his lies about building a border wall and making Mexico pay for it. Or Sen. Mitch McConnell's backflip on confirming Supreme Court justices in an election year. Or the Texas Republican lies about the loss of power in their state being the result of windmills freezing.

The Enlightenment has its limits and its excesses to be sure. Still, if you spend an hour on YouTube listening to what is being said in many white evangelical pulpits, you will find yourself thinking H.L. Mencken's reporting on "The Monkey Trial" was not blinded by his undoubted anti-religious bigotry. Maybe he nailed it. Listen for another hour to some of those sermons, and you find yourself harboring Voltairean thoughts: "crasez l'infme!" (""Crush the infernal thing!")

Regrettably, the same can be said about far too many Catholic pulpits these days. Here's looking at you, Tyler, Texas?

Newt Gingrich, who led the Republican takeover of the House in 1994, acknowledged the party's debt to Limbaugh, naming him an honorary member of the caucus and inviting him to address the new GOP majority. As historian Heather Cox Richardson explained in one of her Letters from an American:

Limbaugh told them that, under House Speaker Newt Gingrich, the Republicans must "begin an emergency dismantling of the welfare system, which is shredding the social fabric," bankrupting the country, and "gutting the work ethic, educational performance, and moral discipline of the poor." Next, Congress should cut capital gains taxes, which would drive economic growth, create hundreds of thousands of jobs, and generate billions in federal revenue.

The conservative fascination with the "moral discipline of the poor" evidences their rank hypocrisy: Limbaugh had four wives and Gingrich is on his third, as is Trump. Rules for thee but not for me.

As for the capital gains tax cut, it did not actually create millions of jobs nor bring in new revenue; it furthered the income inequality that actually harmed the working-class men and women Limbaugh claimed to champion.

When Winston Churchill was asked to send a note to his predecessor, Stanley Baldwin, on the occasion of the latter's 80th birthday, the normally magnanimous Churchill declined, saying, "I wish Stanley Baldwin no ill, but it would have been much better had he never lived." I am not prepared to go that far about Limbaugh nor any man or woman. That said, it is a close call.

Limbaugh threw gasoline on the flames of the culture wars for 40 years, giving permission to millions of Americans to indulge the baser racist and misogynistic tendencies. Trumpism might not have existed without the Rev. Jerry Falwell and his Moral Majority's anti-feminist and anti-gay diatribes. It might not have existed without Pat Buchanan and his appeals to nativism and anti-Semitism. It might not have existed without Mitch McConnell's obstructionism, leading millions of Americans to believe government was broken and needed some kind of savior.

Limbaugh developed and exploited all these themes and more. He was the indispensable man in the creation of conservative populism, and the country is very much the worse for it.

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Limbaugh: The indispensable man in the forging of Trumpism - National Catholic Reporter

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After decades of dictatorship and corruption, Tunisia cannot thrive as a democracy on its own – USA TODAY

Posted: at 2:37 pm

Rached Ghannouchi, Opinion contributor Published 6:00 a.m. ET Feb. 20, 2021

Speaker of Tunisias Parliament: Tunisia is still a democracy in the making, and after the economic damage of COVID, we need help.

Ten years ago, Tunisia made history when Tunisian youth decided to take their fate into their hands and ignited the revolution of freedom and dignity. Tunisia began a pioneering but challenging transition from authoritarian regime to democracy. Since then, Tunisia has become a beacon of hope for those who believe in Arab democracy, holding successive peaceful elections, establishing democratic institutions and enacting progressive social change.

Yet, despite this progress, we are witnessing the rise of regressive movements that invoke nostalgia for the old regime and seek to return to an authoritarian past of one-man rule rather than the pluralism and compromise of a democratic system. The reasons for this are manifold. First, much of our world, including the United States, is grappling with the rise of populism. Populists have a tendency to thrive in moments of economic crisis and social turmoil, both of which are plentiful in the current climate. Their dangerous narratives are built around an opposition between a virtuous homogenous group of people against a vilified "other" whether it be elites, minorities or any alternative viewpoint. In Tunisia it takes the form of attacking democratic institutions, elected officials and political parties, disrupting their work, and feeding the notion that complex and deep-rooted social and economic challenges can be addressed by returning to a more efficient strong man rule, or installing a benevolent dictator. Secondly, any revolution is followed by counter-revolutionary movements and discourses that seek to block and undo any progress achieved and preserve their own privileges and interests.

Tunisian democracy is still in the making. The riots in some Tunisian cities in recent weeks have highlighted just how much there is that is still to be done. The Tunisian people are frustrated at the slow progress of economic reform since 2011 and have yet to see the jobs and better living standards they rightly expect. Our progress has not kept up with peoples expectations. The revolution inspired huge expectations among us all, with little awareness of how complex change would be. Looking back to other modern transitions not so long ago, like those in Eastern Europe, we can see that it takes several decades to see benefits from difficult reforms. This explains how nostalgia for the past order is a common feature of all transitions.

Nevertheless, we can be proud of Tunisias remarkable achievements in the last 10 years. We have established new democratic institutions, resolved conflicts peacefully, set a culture of political inclusion, introduced protections for human rights, gender equality, rule of law and set new standards for state accountability and transparency. Tunisia has made unprecedented progress, placing it among the fastest democratic transitions in history. This is even more remarkable given that past transitions, such as Eastern Europes, took place in a more favourable regional and global climate for democracy and economic growth than Tunisia has faced.

Protesters on Jan. 26, 2021, in Tunis, Tunisia.(Photo: Hedi Ayari/AP)

However, the feelings of disenchantment are understandable and Tunisians continued demands for dignity and prosperity promised are entirely legitimate. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, unemployment has increased from 15% to18%in 2020. Over a third of small businesses are threatened with closure. The tourism sector, which represents 10% of Tunisian GDP and employs almost half a million people,is among the sectors most affected. The government has provided support to those affected by the repercussions of the pandemic and continues to strive to achieve a fine balance between protecting the lives of Tunisians and preserving their livelihoods.

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After decades of dictatorship, inequality and corruption, Tunisias economy is in need of deep-rooted reforms. We believe a stable government that has the support of the largest possible number of political parties and social partners has the best chance to to enact delayed but necessary reforms. What is urgently needed is to embrace once again the values that won Tunisia a Nobel Peace Prize in 2015 compromise and dialogue between political parties, trade unions, business leaders and civil society around a shared economic vision for the country. The coronavirus crisis creates even greater urgency for undertaking these reforms. In addition, agreement must be reached on reforming the electoral system to enable the emergence of majorities that can provide stable and accountable government for the people.

Tunisia cannot do this on its own. It needs support from its international partners who believe in democracy. The difficulties of our democratic transition must not engender a loss of faith in Tunisias democracy. We have crossed uncharted territory in our region, in the face of regional challenges and an unfavourable and volatile global environment. Tunisia needs to be supported as its success will send a message to all nations that democracy can prevail and is, as we believe, the best system of government for delivering freedom and dignity for all. The alternative to democracy in our region is not stability under dictatorship but rather chaos and intensified repression.

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Continued support for and belief in Tunisias transition to a strong and stable democracy is not just in the interest of Tunisians but for all our neighbors and partners. Despite all challenges, our democratic system has stood firm and, with the necessary commitment and support, will deliver the fruits of democracy that Tunisians have been awaiting.

Rached Ghannouchi is the speaker of Tunisias parliament, the Assembly of Peoples Representatives.

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After decades of dictatorship and corruption, Tunisia cannot thrive as a democracy on its own - USA TODAY

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Infographic: How the Tech Giants Make Their Billions

Posted: at 2:36 pm

Innovation can be instrumental to the success of economies, at macro and micro scales. While investment provides powerful fuel for innovationthe relationship isnt always straightforward.

The 2020 ranking from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) reveals just that.

The above map breaks down the most innovative countries in each World Bank income group, based on data from WIPOs Global Innovation Index (GII), which evaluates nations across 80 innovation indicators like research and development (R&D), venture capital, and high-tech production.

While wealthier nations continue to lead global innovation, the GII also shows that middle-income countriesparticularly in Asiaare making impressive strides.

The economic and regulatory spheres within countries can have an enormous impact on their level of innovationand vice versa, as innovation in turn becomes an economic driver, stimulating further investment.

The positive feedback loop between investment and innovation results in the success of some of the top countries in the table below, which shows the three most innovative countries in each income group.

Switzerland, Sweden, and the U.S. are the top three in the high-income group. Considering that Switzerland has the second-highest GDP per capita globally, it is not a surprise leader on this list.

Upper middle-income countries are led by China, Malaysia, and Bulgaria. Note that China far surpasses other nations in the upper-middle-income group ranking, reaching 14th spot overall in 2020. Others in the income group only appear in the overall ranking after 30th place.

Below are several income group leaders, and some of their key areas of output:

Since 2011, Switzerland has led the world in innovation according to this index, and the top five countries have seen few changes in recent years.

Sweden regained second place in 2019 and the U.S. moved into thirdpositions they maintain in 2020. The Netherlands entered the top two in 2018 and now sits at fifth.

Heres how the overall ranking shakes out:

Nordic countries like Sweden, Denmark, and Finland continue their strong showing across innovation factorslike Knowledge Creation, Global Brand Value, Environmental Performance, and Intellectual Property Receiptsleading to their continued presence atop global innovators.

But the nations making the biggest moves in GII ranking are found in Asia.

China, Vietnam, India, and the Philippines have risen the most of all countries, with all four now in the top 50. China broke into the top 15 in 2019 and remains the only middle-income economy in the top 30.

In 2020, South Korea became the second Asian economy to enter the top 10, after Singapore. As the first Asian country to move into the global top five, Singapore joined the leaders in 2018, and now sits at 8th place.

In another first for 2020, India has now broken into the top 50.

While annual rankings like these confirm the importance of a robust economy and innovation investment, variations in the relationship between input and output are not uncommon.

The correlation between wealth and innovation isnt always straightforward, and neither is the connection between innovation input and output.

Below is an overview of the GII inputs and outputs, as well as several of the worlds overall leaders in each pillar.

Input variables can be characterized as factors that foster innovationeverything from the quality of a countrys university institutions to its levels of ecological sustainability.

Output factors include innovation indicators like the creation of new businesses, and even the number of Wikipedia edits made per million people.

Countries with impressive innovation outputs compared to input levels include:

Although financial markets have ignited, the economy as a whole has not fared well since lockdowns began. This begs the question of whether a steep decline in innovation capital will follow.

In response to the 2020 pandemic, will spending on R&D echo the 2009 recession and aftermath of 9/11? Will venture capital flows continue to decline more than they have since 2018?

Because innovation is so entwined with the economic growth strategies of companies and nations alike, the WIPO notes that the potential decline may not be as severe as historical trends might suggest.

Thankfully, innovation opportunities are not solely contingent on the level of capital infused during any given year. Instead, the cumulative results of continuous innovation stimuli may be enough to maintain growth, while strategic cash reserves are put to use.

What the GII ranking shows is that inputs dont always equal outputsand that innovative strides can be made with even modest levels of capital flow.

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Chart: Visualizing The World’s 20 Largest Tech Giants